Awareness of the role of cardiovascular risk factors and their prevention – comparison between rural-urban and urban adolescents

Background: Unhealthy habits (poor diet, smoking and hazardous alcohol drinking) often originate from early-life. We assessed the knowledge on selected cardiovascular and cancer risk factors, healthy habits and its implementation among adolescents and the correlation with their place of residence. Materials and methods: A survey-based study (38-item inventory) was conducted among adolescents from urban and rural-urban areas recruited in two Tricity high-schools and one junior high school from Gniewkowo, respectively. Results: A total of 410 students (59% girls) from Tricity and 287 (51% girls) from Gniewkowo completed the inventory. The mean age was 15.3 years. Students from Gniewkowo spend weekly 8.9 ± 6.2 hours on structured physical activity, which contrasts with 5.5 ± 4.5hrs in Tricity (P < 0.001). Gniewkowo residents restrained from alcohol consumption in 38.7% vs. 31.1% in Tricity (P = 0.04); were active smokers at 9.4% vs. 4.2% (P = 0.007); regular fruits and vegetables consumption was low in both Gniewkowo and Tricity 11.8% vs. 8.6% (P = 0.19); respectively. The awareness of the risk factors of non-communicable diseases was more common amongst Tricity adolescents. This was consistently coupled with the knowledge on preventive methods. Conclusions: The level of knowledge on common non-communicable disease risk factors is higher among teenagers from urban areas, however this does not necessarily translate to more frequent introduction of healthy lifestyle.